


The Night We Met

by FanFicReader01



Series: Peculiar encounters of a taxi driver [12]
Category: Eisbrecher, Original Work
Genre: Crossover, Emotional, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Emotions, Ficlet, Hurt/Comfort, Love, M/M, Oneshot, Romance, Sappy, apparently i'm not done with the taxi au yet lol so have some more oneshots and spinoffs, cliche romance, not even rupert can escape the feelies, tough guys with feelings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-12
Updated: 2019-02-12
Packaged: 2019-10-27 01:57:28
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,825
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17757602
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FanFicReader01/pseuds/FanFicReader01
Summary: Rupert meets J. J meets Rupert.This is their (love) story.





	The Night We Met

**Author's Note:**

> Yes, this is a spin off oneshot for the side character Rupert as he appeared in Strange Trails
> 
> Also, dis fic goes partially out to mah frend the_lie_eternal <3

**I am not the only traveller**

**Who has not repaid his debt**

**I've been searching for a trail to follow again**

**Take me back to the night we met**

 

When the second bouncer approaches the first one, Rupert knows it’s time for his break.

He smiles at his colleague before leaving the entrance. He goes into the club where loud music is booming. Not Rupert’s taste. Not at all.

 “How these windows don’t shatter,” he chuckles to himself before ordering a drink.

Low alcohol level but that’s okay. He still needs to have a clear head for his job. In silence Rupert watches the partying crowd. Not a party he’d want to be a part of. Eventually the Skull Eater has enough of it and detaches himself from the scene. He goes outside in a back alley to smoke.

 He exhales and sees the cigarette smoke go up into the cool air.

“That’s how I like it,” he mutters to himself. Rupert’s life is good. He has a fun job, sees lots of places at night and gets a steady income with it too.

 He listens to the background noise but suddenly it gets interrupted by another, unusual noise. Alerted, the bouncer is quick to investigate.

The source leads to a sobbing figure on the sidewalk. Rupert, knowing it could be trap, approaches with great caution. Once he’s sure there’s no threat in the hunched over person, he speaks up.

 “You alright there?”

Now the figure looks up. A young male stares Rupert in the eyes with red, teary eyes and a wet face.

 “W-Who are you?” Rupert knows that look too well. Fear. Maybe disgust. And the sadness from whatever happened to this young man.

 “I’m a bouncer at this club and-”

“A-Are you going to k-kick me out?” the other man stutters.

 “No? Of course not! Unless you’re causing trouble but you don’t,” Rupert exclaims. “I just got drawn here because your sobbing.”

 “Was I crying that loud?”

Rupert hesitatingly nods. “Kinda.” It only causes the other guy to break down in new tears. The bouncer feels baffled. He never dealt with crying guys before. Or not this kind at least.

He looks around them. Nobody else is present. “You got friends here? Family perhaps?”

 The crying man shakes his head.

“Eh… Okay,” think, Rupert, think. “Let’s go inside. I’ll buy you a drink.”

 

They go inside and Rupert buys both a beer. He throws a quick look at his watch. It’s almost time again. The guy notices it too.

 “You’re going?”

“Yeah. Job’s calling. Hope you don’t mind?”

 “It’s okay.” It was clearly _not_ okay. Rupert could tell.

“You know what? Wait for me. Three hours from now, my shift’s over and we can go somewhere else.” It’s said before he can think twice. No turning back now.

 “F-For real?” there’s new hope visible in the younger man’s eyes. Definitely not going back.

“Unless you don’t want to,” Rupert crawls back.

 “No, no. It’s fine. Thank you sir!”

“You can call me Rupert. Rupert Keplinger,” Rupert smiles.

 “I’m J.”

“See you over a few hours then, J!”

 

**And then I can tell myself**

**What the hell I'm supposed to do**

**And then I can tell myself**

**Not to ride along with you**

 

Rupert kept his promise. The other guy kept his promise. Now Rupert’s driving them both into a late night until they reach a small snack bar. It’s his favourite in town. The Skull Eater often visits it with Falk, his best friend.

“Gosh, I’m starving. We should order something, huh?” Rupert pretends everything is fine. It’s the only way to lift the mood, he thinks. J gives him an uncertain look.

 “What? You’re not hungry? Fine by me. You can pick some of my fries.”

 

At the table they talk. They talk a lot.

They talk about the light-hearted things: the weather, Rupert’s job, J’s job, clothes and music. And then there’s the heavy topic. J is going through a rough period in his life. He desperately wants to belong somewhere but he doesn’t know where exactly.

“Life will figure itself out,” Rupert says. He knows he has easy talk. His life is pretty much okay now.

“But when?”

 “I don’t know.”

“You’re kind, sir.”

 “Just call me Rupert. No need to be so formal,” Rupert laughs. He obnoxiously slurps from his cola and it makes J finally crack a laugh. So Rupert does it again. Now he’s laughing too.

Together they laugh and then J cries and Rupert awkwardly puts a hand of comfort on the other man’s shoulder.

 “Come on now, bud.”

“You’re a complete stranger and  yet… Yet you take me out on this dinner thing and.. You’re so nice.”

 “I’m just trying my best,” Rupert says to that. He’s honest. It’s all he can do. It’s not like the guy seemed to have any friends around to care for him.

Together they sit in the snack bar. Rupert waits. J sobs until there are no tears left to spill. That’s when the Skull Eater gets up and brings the other man to his car again.

 “It’s time for you to go home. Where to?”

 

**When the night was full of terror**

**And your eyes were filled with tears**

**When you had not touched me yet**

**Oh, take me back to the night we met**

 

Rupert didn’t expect to meet J more often than he does. They actually meet up once a week. Sometimes even twice or thrice.

They go to the snack bar. No longer is it a Falk-Rupert thing only. J has found his spot here too now. And Rupert doesn’t mind sharing that place with a new friend.

 Here they talk.

And they talk some more. And they listen some more. And Rupert enjoys listening to J rant about whatever it might be. No, he _loves_ it. The Skull Eater feels like he’s never been this invested in someone else before. On _this_ level. So he just listens. And listens.

And Rupert doesn’t like it when J doubts himself, when he pulls himself down and-

  _“Stop_. Stop right there.”

“What? Why?” J looks confused and Rupert decides to get physical. Gently physical.

He takes J’s hands in his own. For a second he doesn’t like the look of his bony hands. They’re not made to be gentle. They’re not good enough for J. They’re-

 “What is it, Rupert?”

“You shouldn’t doubt yourself so much. It’s no good. Also I-,” Rupert’s hands tighten around J’s darker ones.

 “Also I don’t want you to hurt yourself. It hurts me to see you like this.”

 

\--

 

There’s more time spend together. Rupert takes J out on small dates. They have lunch together. Sometimes they share breakfast. Once, J initiates a meeting and they have dinner in a small bistro in the late afternoon. It’s so fun.

 And not once does Rupert get tired of listening to his new friend.

It’s gotten to the point he realizes he _misses_ J when he’s not around. When they’re parted, he really misses J. Really, really misses him in his daily life and night life.

And that’s when he calls his friend Falk for help and advice. The Lycan drives all the way to the bouncer’s apartment in another city to talk.

 

They talk.

 “Is it normal?”

“Of course.”

 “How?”

“You like him, don’t you?”

 “Well, yeah, we’re friends but this is different.  I mean, I miss you too but not as much and-”

“Thanks, asshole,” Fall interrupts. He frowns. Rupert gulps. Then the Lycan cracks a playful smile. “I was just kidding with you, Rupert.”

“Oh, okay.”

 “But you like J.”

“Yes.”

 

It feels like a mirror has been shattered. A loud crash. Rupert feels dizzy. This feeling, he couldn’t place it before but now he’s sure of it.

The Skull Eater has fallen in love with the regular human.

 

 

**I had all and then most of you, some and now none of you**

**Take me back to the night we met**

**I don't know what I'm supposed to do, haunted by the ghost of you**

**Take me back to the night we met**

 

Rupert realizes he’s not a man of many words. That’s fine. He is good in listening and using his fists. But that’s not what he needs  right now. He doesn’t need those fists for that.

He wants to use them for something less, less violent. He needs his arms and hands to hold somebody. Hold J. _Yes_ , in his arms. Cradle him, love him.

For once in Rupert’s turbulent, violent life he wants to be gentle. _For J._

 

The night is still young and he’s at one of those clubs. Not as the bouncer, but as a guest. And J is with him tonight. He’s smiling at Rupert.

They’re dancing. Slowly, carefully. J is grinning and the Skull Eater wonders why.

 “What you’re smiling at?”

“You. You’re a funny guy, Rupert,” J’s arms around Rupert’s waist tighten.

 “Why?”

“What is this relationship to you?” J asks him. Did he just question their friendship, Rupert thinks alarmed.

 “We’re close friends,” he eventually replies. Their bodies are still moving to the song.

“And?”

 “And what?”

“I want us to be more than that, Rupert,” J suddenly turns coy. He looks away before he continues in a whisper: “I see us as _lovers_.”

 Oh god. Rupert wasn’t prepared for this. They’ve spend days, weeks even months together. What they have is beautiful. And now… he isn’t ready for his feelings to be actually returned _explicitly_.

 “You don’t?” J stops his dancing. Rupert trips over himself and his words.

“I do. Shit, I do!”

It gets real quiet between them. Rupert wonders when the music had stopped playing. His mind is going crazy, working too much. There’s only one thing that’s clear now but it’s so incredibly loud.

 He wants to say it. He wants to say how he’s fallen so hard for J. He wants to say that J shouldn’t be afraid of his skeletal appearance. And that those rough hands can do more than just throwing and kicking people out. And now it’s so hard for him to beat those _three simple words_ out of his mouth. But he can’t get any singly sound past his sealed lips and-

 Suddenly J’s mouth is so close to Rupert’s. The Skull Eater holds his breath and just waits for it to be over but it isn’t.

 This isn’t happening. This isn’t happening. This isn’t-

_Oh._

 His friend’s mouth is perfect. During their awkward kiss, Rupert realizes his friend must be standing on his toes to reach him. Adorable.

When they part again, Rupert’s in a haze. J looks at him. A dreamy look is shared by both of them.

 “I love you, Rupert.”

Rupert smiles and he doesn’t need to say those three words out loud to get the message across. Especially not if he already kisses J back in response.


End file.
